1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a system and method for electronically and anonymously conducting and participating in a referendum.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,813,963 discloses a method and system for increasing the yield of response to an electronic solicitation to take action by presenting direct action links within the solicitation itself. It was disclosed that these direct action links are distinguished by the ability to initiate a transaction when a user interacts with them. It was further disclosed that the enhanced program has the capability of storing information about the user of the system for authorizing future transactions. FIG. 1 of the '963 patent depicts a referendum interface for a transaction that does not maintain anonymity. In fact, column 6 lines 52-53 and column 8 lines 22-23 of '963 teach a referendum that is contrary in nature to the one of the benefits offered by the present invention, i.e., anonymity. The '963 patent discloses an interface that allows a user to enter email addresses of his/her friends such that they may receive and weigh in on the same referendum.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,833 discloses an online voting system which provides a standardized database architecture that integrates editorial and production processes. The voting system has a survey database to store multiple surveys and a server to serve the surveys over a network to readers. Column 7 lines 41 to 53 discloses a mechanism by which a request is identified, i.e., the GUID. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a GUID is traceable to the computer which creates it.                “In the OSF-specified algorithm for generating new (V1) GUIDs, the user's network card MAC address is used as a base for the last group of GUID digits, which means, for example, that a document can be tracked back to the computer that created it.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_unique_identifier        
However, a mechanism which enables tracing may not be tolerated by users concerned by privacy issues. Therefore, such a mechanism fails to inspire confidence amongst would-be referendum takers and therefore lacks the appeal to attract referendum participation.
U.S. Pat Pub. No. 2007/0192179 discloses systems and methods for survey based qualification of keyword searches and survey based qualification of keyword advertising. A searcher provides a search query to a search engine and is presented with at least one query-specific survey question. The searcher's original query and/or response to the query-specific survey question(s) are then used to generate search results. Although the concept of utilizing a survey result for refining a search process is disclosed, this disclosure however does not teach a referendum system that is anonymous, simple to use and a system and method in which referendums are standardized to promote sharing of referendum data.
Thus, there arises a need for a referendum system and method that are truly anonymous and simple to use such that referendum participation can be improved. Further, there arises a need for a referendum system and method where disparate referendum systems may be combined to increase sample size for providing statistically reliable information.